Giorgio is a shy Jewish young man from Ferrara and in love with young, and aristocratic Micol Finzi-Contini. They know each other from a tender age, but Giorgio never had a chance to approach her. Even the racial laws may have a silver lining, because when Giorgio is expelled from the Tennis Club, the Jewish Finzi-Contini open their lavish tennis court to the local youth, especially to other Jews.
Micol sort of flirts with Giorgio, leading him on, while rejecting the advances of extroverted Malnate. While the tragedy of deportation looms closer, the love story between Giorgio and Micol never takes off, because eventually she rejects him with a flimsy excuse, and allows him to witness her sexual encounter with Malnate.
I watched this movie as a teenager and I was negatively impressed by Micol's cruel behaviour. In the movie Giorgio witness from outside a garden hut, a naked Micol, lying next to the asleep Malnate. She even switches on the light of the hut to show better her naked body to Giorgio.
This for me was gratuitous voyeurism and detrimental to the tragic story. The whole movie focusses a bit too much on the beautiful Dominque Sanda who kind of overshadows the tragic destiny of all her family, the cruelty of the situation and the fact that she possibly was never in love in Giorgio and there was no need for her flirting.
I guess the movie suffers from a male POV and maybe the salacious scene was included to uplift the audience. Still, a debatable choice.
The soundtrack, besides being a tad too gloomy is terribly dated. Definitely worth a watch but I am not surprised the author of the novel asked for his name to be removed from the credits. Maybe he didn't appreciate the slightly misogynist, voyeuristic approach either.
Micol sort of flirts with Giorgio, leading him on, while rejecting the advances of extroverted Malnate. While the tragedy of deportation looms closer, the love story between Giorgio and Micol never takes off, because eventually she rejects him with a flimsy excuse, and allows him to witness her sexual encounter with Malnate.
I watched this movie as a teenager and I was negatively impressed by Micol's cruel behaviour. In the movie Giorgio witness from outside a garden hut, a naked Micol, lying next to the asleep Malnate. She even switches on the light of the hut to show better her naked body to Giorgio.
This for me was gratuitous voyeurism and detrimental to the tragic story. The whole movie focusses a bit too much on the beautiful Dominque Sanda who kind of overshadows the tragic destiny of all her family, the cruelty of the situation and the fact that she possibly was never in love in Giorgio and there was no need for her flirting.
I guess the movie suffers from a male POV and maybe the salacious scene was included to uplift the audience. Still, a debatable choice.
The soundtrack, besides being a tad too gloomy is terribly dated. Definitely worth a watch but I am not surprised the author of the novel asked for his name to be removed from the credits. Maybe he didn't appreciate the slightly misogynist, voyeuristic approach either.